Satellite in Motorvans

[Keith Murray]

Am looking into having a sat system fitted to my MV. Am quite experienced at setting up sat dish on sites using a domestic mini dish but would appreciate any personal experiences good or bad of mounted automatic dishes and/or domes. what are the pro and cons of both systems. would appreciate any personal experiences to help me choose which is best. Thanks

 

[pappajohn]

hi Kieth,
i have a Maxview crankup and a Zenda FTA receiver, its the dogs doda's.
before this i had a domestic dish on a pole but if it was raining it meant getting wet setting it up or just watch DVD's til it eased off. now i just wind it up, point it in the right bit of sky and thats it, sit down, beer in hand.
it has a degree scale ring to aid setting up and the elevation is the same. just need a compass to find north, yes NORTH, to start the process.
you will still need a signal finder for ease of use.

very easy to install if you have the confidence to drill through the roof in the right place.....you only get one shot at it unless you dont mind holes in the roof...oh:

cant see the point in a fully auto system.....you only pay a grand more for a motor to do what your hand does just the same.

other folks (ScotJimLand) will totally disagree with my comments but each to their own.

john

 

[Geo]

Hi Keith
I have had the benifit of both the hand crank type and now a fully auto unit
I bought and fitted the crank up and won if you like the full auto set upas it came with the RV
I personally would not pay the extra for the auto unit if i had to start from scratch again, they work well but at a price and seem better in the wind to a degree that the crank ups
as john says it takes a couple of minuets to set up the Max view, the hardest thing to remember going from a floor mounted system to a van mounted hand set up, is you cant rely on the known elevation figures totaly as you may be parked 5-10 degrees off level so you need to add or subtract from that to get on target.
I only mention that because some who are new to a roof mount have it firmly locked into their head that the satelite is at say 23 degrees and will only go 1 or 2 degrees either side of that figure looking for it, so 5 Hrs later their still not locked on and say the systems crapoh:
Geo

 

[pappajohn]

cheers Geo, forgot to mention the 'extra' elevation. :thumb: but thats where the finder helps.

 

[Boo]

I have a huge electronic, self seeking dish with a 4ft tall waiter on it.............I recon I can pick up the mars satalite with that beauty

It came with the van but I was told it cost £1800 fitted...............it is a pose and 1 finger operation with memory and such...........but I wouldn't have bought it, I would have gone with the manual one for a fraction of the price

Boo

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[stagman]

Am looking into having a sat system fitted to my MV. Am quite experienced at setting up sat dish on sites using a domestic mini dish but would appreciate any personal experiences good or bad of mounted automatic dishes and/or domes. what are the pro and cons of both systems. would appreciate any personal experiences to help me choose which is best. Thanks

I did have the Maxview crank up on my old van , fitted it myself quite easy to do .Bought a sat receiver from Maplin for around £50 depends what deals they got going at the time .The receiver I bought is the same as the Maxview which is double the price ,it has a sat signal Strenght meter on screen no external meter reqd .Once you get used to it easy to set up .I am thinking on my new van may fit Camos Plus system but not sure yet or sick with what I know works .The Jury is still out :thumb:

 

[scotjimland]

cant see the point in a fully auto system.....you only pay a grand more for a motor to do what your hand does just the same.

other folks (ScotJimLand) will totally disagree with my comments but each to their own.

john

Not at all John ..
I totally agree about going the manual way and I've always maintained that the Maxview was a good dish, easy to align, and performed well but suffered from a poorly designed brake system. The problem I've experienced is that it sometimes gets blown off signal in gusty winds .. Maxview inspected the installation and dish and found nothing wrong ..

The new Camos crank-up flat antenna is getting good reports.. and able to withstand much rougher weather.. AFAIK it uses the same crank-up mast as the American Wingard Bat wing aerial, which IMO is a far better designed mast than the Maxview.

Now some will argue that any crank-up dish will suffer in the wind, which is true, but while at Mimizan last winter there were lots of days when the Maxview had to be lowered, yet the French vans with Alden crank-ups were unaffected ..

Maxview do a pole mounted crank-up but it requires a wall mounting for the pole and may not suit all vans .. same system as the Alden



Jim

 

[madbluemad]

Not at all John ..
I totally agree about going the manual way and I've always maintained that the Maxview was a good dish, easy to align, and performed well but suffered from a poorly designed brake system. The problem I've experienced is that it sometimes gets blown off signal in gusty winds .. Maxview inspected the installation and dish and found nothing wrong ..

The new Camos crank-up flat antenna is getting good reports.. and able to withstand much rougher weather.. AFAIK it uses the same crank-up mast as the American Wingard Bat wing aerial, which IMO is a far better designed mast than the Maxview.

Now some will argue that any crank-up dish will suffer in the wind, which is true, but while at Mimizan last winter there were lots of days when the Maxview had to be lowered, yet the French vans with Alden crank-ups were unaffected ..

Maxview do a pole mounted crank-up but it requires a wall mounting for the pole and may not suit all vans .. same system as the Alden



Jim

Hiya Jim

Ive been reading all of the posts re: sat dishes since whenever. Ive now bought the Camos Flat Sat Plus, Cranky. I've bought a box that is probabley more expensive than the one I needed but there you go, Ive got money to burn.

Was going to get it fitted last week but it didnt get done.

To the original question I would support everything that has been said. In the end it was the Camos for me.

Cheers

Jim
:thumb:

 

[pappajohn]

Not at all John ..
I totally agree about going the manual way and I've always maintained that the Maxview was a good dish, easy to align, and performed well but suffered from a poorly designed brake system. The problem I've experienced is that it sometimes gets blown off signal in gusty winds .. Maxview inspected the installation and dish and found nothing wrong .
Jim

fair comments Jim:thumb: never meant to make you sound like a whinging old git

 

[Ricklister]

Keith

If you are the Keith I know give me a bell and I will have a word about my system

Rick

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[stagman]

Well after a lot of thought have ordered the Maxview crank up from Maplin's , should have it any day now. £325 delivered guess that's what swung it for me and also had one on my old van which worked great .£480 for the Camos plus crank up which I would have needed to receive same coverage.:thumb: